Plot

Season One

Ninjutsu master Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) is carrying his four pet turtles through the streets of Manhattan, New York City when he encounters members of an alien race called the Kraang. During an altercation with these aliens, Yoshi and the turtles are exposed to an alien chemical called mutagen and they undergo major physical transformations. Yoshi becomes a humanoid rat and the turtles become anthropomorphic. Taking upon the new name "Splinter", he retreats to the New York City sewers, where he raises the four turtles as his sons and imparts to them his knowledge of ninjutsu.

Now teenagers, the Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo) venture to the surface for the first time and learn that the Kraang are using the mutagen as part of their plan to take over New York City. The Turtles befriend the teenage April O'Neil after she and her scientist father, Kirby, are abducted by the Kraang. Donatello develops a crush on April. While Kirby remains a prisoner of the Kraang, April becomes an ally of the Turtles, who try to help her locate her father. April is also trained by Splinter to be a kunoichi or female ninja.

The Turtles also learn that Splinter's long-time archenemy Oroku Saki (Shredder) has come to New York City and has ordered his Foot Clan to track down Splinter and his sons, and put an end to their clan. Learning about the Kraang's presence through his adopted daughter Karai, Shredder enters an alliance with the aliens to destroy their mutual enemies in the Hamato Clan.

The Turtles discover that the Kraang (led by Kraang Prime) have come to Earth from Dimension X and are plotting to use the mutagen to convert the Earth into a planet that will be suitable for their race. After the Turtles rescue Kirby, the Kraang invade New York, but the Turtles and April emerge triumphant when they are able to send the Technodrome crashing into the sea. Meanwhile, Splinter battles Shredder and learns that Karai is his own daughter, Miwa who was kidnapped by Shredder and who believes that Splinter killed her mother. The season ends with Turtles celebrating on their victory over Kraang as Splinter hides this secret from them.

Season Two

The Turtles struggle to contain an outbreak of mutations that occurs thanks to the leftover mutagen from the thwarted Kraang invasion. Kirby is among the victims of the outbreak, and a misunderstanding leads April to hate the Turtles and break off their friendship. However, the Turtles are able to earn her forgiveness when they save her from Karai, who has taken temporary command of the Foot while the Shredder is away in Japan. The Hamato Clan also gains a new member when April's new friend Casey Jones helps repel an assault on the Turtles' lair. Kirby is eventually restored to his human form when Donatello manages to concoct a retro-mutagen.

The Shredder returns from Japan with the mutated bounty hunter Tigerclaw, who becomes the Shredder's new second-in-command. During a battle with the Turtles, Karai is informed of her true nature by Leonardo, but she is reluctant to accept the truth. When she is taken to the lair, she finally realizes the truth, and disowns the Shredder, who responds by imprisoning her. Repeated attempts to free Karai ultimately succeed, but the Shredder captures Karai again and uses her as bait to kill the Hamato Clan. However, Karai ends up mutated into a serpent, to everyone's horror.

The Kraang perfect the previously unstable mutagen, and launch a second invasion of New York, starting by destroying the Turtles' lair and forcing them to abandon it. The Kraang begin mutating New York's populace, including Kirby, despite the efforts of Earth's military and the Turtles. Leonardo is gravely wounded when he is ambushed by the entire Foot Clan, and Splinter is seemingly killed during a battle with the Shredder. The Turtles, April, and Casey are forced to flee New York as the Kraang successfully conquer the city.

Season Three

The group takes refuge at the O'Neil family's summer home in rural New York in order to recuperate from their loss at the hands of the Kraang and the Foot. Leonardo takes an extended amount of time to recover, but guided by an apparition of Splinter, is able to overcome his physical and mental wounds. The group eventually returns to New York with the goal of finding Splinter, Karai, Kirby, and their other missing allies, and liberate the city from the Kraang. They are successful in finding Splinter, and set up a temporary base in the abandoned Antonio's Pizza. Donatello begins work on new samples of retro-mutagen as the search for Kirby and Karai continues while Shredder later mutates Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko into his latest mutants Bebop and Rocksteady. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even run into the Mighty Mutanimals (consisting of Slash, Leatherhead, Dr. Tyler Rockwell, and Pete).

Background

On October 21, 2009, a press release was made indicating that Viacom had bought the complete rights of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise from Peter Laird for $60 million, and would be developing a CGI animated TV series for its Nickelodeon family of channels for broadcast in 2012. A feature film, released by Paramount Pictures (also a division of Viacom), debuted in 2014.[12]

Production art was leaked on the Nickelodeon website before it was taken down. The images showed the designs of all four Turtles, Shredder, Splinter, a teenage April O'Neil and the Kraang, an alien race that combines elements of both Krang and the Utroms.[23] A trailer for the series was released on June 21, 2012, on Nickelodeon USA.[24] In June 2014, it was announced that Seth Green would replace Jason Biggs as the voice of Leonardo in season 3.[2]

Merchandise

Playmates Toys created a new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles consumer products to go along with the show.[37]

In mid 2012, Playmates Toys released their first wave of basic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures which consisted of "hero figures" Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter and April O'Neil as well as "villain characters" Shredder, Kraang, and a Foot Soldier. In early 2013, Playmates released series 2 which consisted of the new "hero" character Metalhead as well as new villains Dogpound and Fishface. In April 2013, the third wave appeared which included the "hero" character Leatherhead as well as villains Snakeweed and Baxter Stockman.[38] Wave four was released in early August and it featured the villains Rat King and Spyroach as well as new "Stealth Tech" versions of the four turtles. Wave 5 was released in October with a 7 pack of Mousers as well as four baby versions of the Turtles (Turtles in training) October saw the final release of 2013 with wave six which included two new villains: Spider Bytez and a newly sculpted Shredder figure featuring a removable helmet and cape.[39] Wave seven first appeared in February 2014 with figures for Kirby Bat, Squirrelanoid, Casey Jones, and Mutagen Man.[40]

in July 2014, Build-A-Bear Workshop released a series of plush versions of the Turtles, as well as other TMNT themed apparel including an outfit of Shredder, along with items such as the Turtles' signature weapons.[citation needed]

Activision also released a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game based on the series for Wii, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS on October 22, 2013.[45]

On September 4, 2014. Activision announced a second game based on the show called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze. The game will be released on Nintendo 3DS and Xbox 360, and will also be released on the PlayStation 3 instead of the Wii. The game is being developed by WayForward.[46]

Reception

IGN has given the show positive reviews, with many episodes reviewed being given the "Editor's Choice" title.[47] "Invasion" has received the highest rating of 10/10.[48] The series premiered in the U.S. to 3.9 million viewers.[49]

Variety has praised the show, saying "...handsomely produced effort, with a strong vocal cast, considerable humor and scads of high-spirited action. If the goal was to introduce the Turtles to a new generation — amphibious mission accomplished."[13]